Tuesday Ella and I took our weekly trip to the grocery store. And as she often does lately, she says “walk, mommy, walk!” Which means she’s done with her snacks and she’s tired of sitting idly by while there are so many things to run and explore. Letting her down though is usually a decision I learn to regret. If I wanted to spend the whole day at the grocery store inspecting each item, it would be great, but we usually have some other things to get to.

So despite better judgment and because we were in the second to the last aisle of the store, I let her down. All was well for awhile. She reached up for my hand and walked sweetly with me. Then she ran and looked at the lobsters for the 10th time. But then she came back and stood by the chips with a serious look on her face. Uh oh. I know that look.

“Poopie mommy,” she says. Yep, that’s just what I figured. So, I browsed at some items and tried to give her some time, then came back to her to try to move the trip along. But there was no moving to be had. Every tug at her hand or lifting of her body resulted in her yelling loudly “POOPIE MOMMY!”

So, I waited and waited and waited. I tried to convince her she could ride standing up in that big crazy 2-kid cart she always wants me to get. (Please don’t turn me in to the grocery cart authorities. I know this breaks the rules.) But it was a no-go.

And we were so close to being done at the store. “We just need cheese!” I tried to reason with her.

At last, I just had to wait it out. So if you saw me browsing at the chips for a VERY long time on Tuesday — no, I’m not some sort of chip connoisseur. I just have a 2-year-old with bad timing.

It’s been another great lull in blogging, but I’ve almost had too much going on to even know where to begin. And some of it I don’t even want to talk about. Sorry.

Also, do you ever notice how when it rains it pours? I guess some people have, because that cliche caught on. Anyway, we’ve been kinda stricken with bad luck it seems lately.

To name a few things, our bed broke the other day. Just one side rail, but it has rendered the bed useless until we take the appropriate steps to fix it. And if you really know me, you know that I LOVE my bed. LOVE it. Often I have rolled over in it to lovingly whisper “I love you … bed.” Much to my husband’s dissapointment. Seriously, it’s king size so I can spread out to my heart’s desire. And the sheets and bedding are luxiourously wonderful. So now where are we sleeping you say?

All three of us, yes Ella too, are sleeping the queen size guest bed. And we’re all sick. Which is why Ella’s sleeping with us. She needs some extra love right now. But do you know that people wake up a lot, and snore really loudly when they’re sick? I won’t name names, but it doesn’t make for a good night’s sleep.

So, what I’m really trying to say is, if this blog is grumpy or poorly written, it’s because I’m sick. And tired. And I want my bed back.

I’ve just realized there is a very important subject in my life that deserves more attention on my blog. Our new carpet.

Yes, it’s an exciting life I live.

Anyway, as we usually do, when embarking on a new purchase, we researched the subject to death. We went to countless stores. Spent months considering the best kind, brand, color, price for our house. We knew it had to be very stain resistant, so that led us to frize. We also knew that a neutral would look best, but again, because we were looking for something to hide stains we wanted something quite a bit darker.

Just to remind you, this is what it did look like:

Pretty bad. And that’s only a small portion of it. I’m not sure how it got that way. The previous homeowners who had three children surely contributed, but It got much, much worse in the last year. Someone once suggested that when little drips of water or milk from Ella’s sippy cups get on the carpet, dirt clings to those spots. The moral of this story: Don’t ever get really light carpet, people!

But here’s what it looks like now:

Ah, plush and soft. I love it. And it doesn’t look like it needs vacuuming every other hour of the day. And if you’re wandering, yes, that’s Ella sitting in a wagon in the living room. More on that in a minute.

Another thing I love about the carpet, instead of the cheap trim we had covering up where the carpet and tile meet, the installers just turned the carpet at the end and gave it a clean line like this:

My mom suggested this. That is why she is my top design adviser.

So about that wagon. At some point last week, it was around 50 degrees for a couple days. I was so filled with joy. Ella and I took a walk outside. When we left, we only had to wear our light jackets. No hats, mittens or scarves. Ella wore her cute new spring jacket from Grandma.

So that night we assembled her wagon, a Christmas gift from the grandparents. But because we live in Indiana, the 50 degree weather quickly ended, leaving us instead with alternating downpours of snow and rain. Oh, Indiana, you’re so cruel.

But Ella sure loves her wagon. I pull her around in it. She eats snacks and drinks water in it.

The best part is that if she happens to spill her snack, no big deal. It’s in the wagon! So just maybe this time, our carpet will last a little bit longer …

Ella has been so goofy lately. I think maybe since her vocabulary is expanding so quickly she’s able to voice all of her excitement now. Here’s a few things she’s been talking about lately.

She holds her hand up to her face with fingers outstretched and says “Listen to that! A firetruck!” And no, there’s usually not a firetruck. And she seems to be mimicking the way people cup their ears when they’re really trying to listen, but she just holds her hand up to her face. I’m thinking she may picked up this whole thing from Dora.

“Haeelp Mommy!” – This one I understand. I’ve tried to teach her that instead of whining or screaming she needs to use words – such as Help, Mommy. So now, many, many times a day, I hear “Haaelp Mommy.” She sounds like a tiny southern lady in distress.

Now I don’t know where she got this one either … and she’s only used this one on Daddy. She lays down really nice and peacefully like she’s ready for a good night’s sleep. Then 5 minutes later she calls out for Daddy and when he comes to get her she proudly says “little nap! little nap!” Guess she thinks she just needs one little 5-minute nap at night.

About Us

Erin
Me. Blogger. Formerly lived carefree life of eating out, staying out late, traveling and whatever else I wanted. Now mostly chase around two kids, cook, clean and work as graphic artist.

Stephen
Wonderful web guru husband who prepared this site for me. He's even trying to help to do dishes more around the house. Good man. I met him at a party in college in 1998 and he still hasn’t gone home.

Ella
Unbelievably cute daughter who's been running the show at our house since March of 2007.